4 Ways To Be Productive When You’re Having A Low Energy Day

08/11/2018

I’ve talked about how to practice self care when you’re having a low energy day, so for this post I thought I’d talk about how to still feel productive on days when you don’t have enough energy to get out of bed.

For me, feeling productive has a direct effect on my mood.

If I don’t feel like I’ve achieved anything “useful” with my day, I notice that I can start to feel really down and despondent. I’ll start to doubt myself and feel like I’ll never achieve my goals, because I’m not good enough and I’m just lazy.

But the thing is, being productive doesn’t always have to mean getting “work” done.

It can be simple tasks like putting a wash in the machine, sorting out your wardrobe or making a doctors appointment that you’ve been putting off.

As long as it’s something that needed doing, you’re being productive by doing it.

Clean out your bag

My bags seem to get full of clutter so easily these days; mostly with receipts and vouchers that I just stuff in there in my rush to not hold up the person behind me in the queue.

If you look in my bag, there’s a good chance you’ll find a layer of receipts covering the bottom!

Plus having a clear out of your bag is a good way to keep track of where everything is. The amount of times I’ve been looking all over my room for something, only to find it at the bottom of one of my bags, is ridiculous.

Organise your files on your laptop

If there’s one thing I hate, it’s having a messy desktop on my laptop. I tend to have everything saved within 4 main folders, and then use a lot of sub folders within that to separate things out.

My main four are for university, blogging, graphic design (both client and personal) and then a general folder for things that don’t fit into those.

But when I get busy with university, things just tend to get saved to the desktop and I then have to spend 10 minutes trying to sort through the mess to find whatever it is I’m after.

One of my favourite things to do once deadlines are over with is to sit down with a cup of tea and sort through all my files.

I’ll organise everything back into the correct folder and delete things I no longer need; I actually find it really relaxing.

Clear out your social media

There seems to be a lot of negativity around unfollowing people, but I honestly think it’s essential for your mental wellbeing.

Your feed should be a place you enjoy coming to; not a place you avoid because of all the drama and negativity. I remember before I had my first big clear out, I hated going onto Twitter so much because of the content I was seeing.

It wasn’t a very positive atmosphere and I noticed that it was starting to have an effect on my mood whenever I would scroll through my feed.

Once I realised that, I went on a huge unfollowing spree – I must have got rid of at least 200 people that day alone.

While that might sound a bit harsh, I noticed an instant improvement; my feed changed into a positive and uplifting place where I could go for inspiration, which is one of the main things I love about social media.

If you don’t want to unfollow/unfriend someone for some reason (maybe because you’re scared of them starting drama or because they’re a friend) then you can just mute them instead.

This way you won’t see their content, but you’ll still technically be following them – which is a good compromise in situations like that.

If you find yourself dreading opening an app, why not have a mini clear out of the account that makes you feel that way.

You’ll be surprised by how much better you feel afterwards!

Unsubscribe from newsletters you never open

The amount of emails I get a day is overwhelming; most of which never even get opened.

A lot of the time, they’re from brands that I’ve shopped with only once. There are times when I can get 5 or 6 emails from the same brand…in one day!

Rather than just deleting them as they come in, I’ve started to unsubscribe from them instead.

Not only does unsubscribing stop you getting bombarded by unwanted emails, but I’ve noticed that I’m a lot less negative about opening my inbox.

What are your favourite ways to be productive when you don’t have much energy?

25 responses to “4 Ways To Be Productive When You’re Having A Low Energy Day”

I do these things when I can’t be bothered to do anything else and even completing a simple thing like organizing files makes me feel good. Another potential thing is going through emails. Maybe deleting some if they are from like random sites. Thanks for the post x

Organising the files on my laptop is my favourite thing to do when I am feeling low but want to get SOMETHING done. As for unsubscribing, that’s something I’ll need to keep in mind for next time because I really need to sort that out…

Great post! I recently spent time unsubscribing from newsletters that were no longer useful. What a difference it makes! You’re right, the amount of emails we receive really is overwhelming. These are great tips to feel productive again.

Great advice! I always have a bunch of different handbags on the floor at any one time, and clearing them out and putting them away is a quick and easy way to feel like I’ve done something useful – and so true about finding lost lipsticks lol x

Thank-you for sharing some great tips here! Such a relatable feeling, decluttering is a great way of feeling productive. I have found soo much in my bag right down at the bottom. Such a simple post but I feel so good to have a productive day featuring all this. A good clear out whether that’s your room, your laptop or even social media is perfect.

I think we all fall into a trap that being productive is ‘doing work’ when in fact it doesn’t have to be that and this post covers this so well. There’s always something really satisfying about clearing a messy desktop or having a social media clear out.
This morning I’ve done 3 loads of washing and it’s instantly made me feel better!
Thanks for sharing.
Charlotte – https://www.charlotteshares.co.uk/

Yeah I think its such an easy trap to fall into! Well done on getting the washing done…you’ve actually just reminded me I need put a wash in myself 😅 cleaning my desk and room up is really therapeutic 🙌🏼

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Thanks for stopping by! I’m a twenty-five-year-old digital media graduate with a passion for writing and a desire to change the way we view mental health and autism. I’ve owned jademarie.co.uk for nearly two years now, and its slowly changed from a place where I would brain dump whatever was going through my head that day, into a place where people can come for help, advice and hopefully a bit of a laugh. I do occasionally come out with a witty sentence or two. Mostly by accident.